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Ilmor/Chevrolet do the right thing at Long Beach

Just prior to the Long Beach Grand Prix, one of the Chevrolet-powered IndyCar teams experienced an engine failure during a test day. Once Ilmor examined the engine, they determined that the damage was probably the result of the engine calibration (fuel/spark curves) being used. Since all the teams use the same spec engines, this raised the obvious concern that all the other engines used to that point could be vulnerable to the same problem. Unfortunately, IndyCar rules mandate that engines must be used for 1,850 miles before being changed, so there would be a 10-position starting grid penalty assigned to any car that changed engines before the Long Beach race.
Ilmor/Chevrolet stepped up to the plate, informed all of their teams that there was a potential problem, and made sure that engines were available for all 11 cars that planned to run Long Beach. The engine changes were done, the cars were assessed the 10-position penalty, and Chevrolet/Ilmor cars still took 8 of the top 10 finishing positions in the race.

Rather than side-stepping and denying the issue, Ilmor/Chevrolet admitted their problem, helped their customers deal with it, faced the music, and still came out on top. I can think of a number of other companies that could stand to learn from this example...

By the way, this makes it three victories in the first three IndyCar races for Ilmor/Chevrolet under the new engine rules in 2012.